I’m too tired to write anything significant tonight. The day was busy. So much of my job is emotional labour, which takes a lot of out of me. I enjoy working with my students but they can be trying at times. My patience isn’t enough.
I’ll try to do better tomorrow.
I made a pen today. I almost forgot to post something today so I took the picture on my pillow.
The weekend got away from me. Poof. Three days just disappeared. Time has a way of doing that lately.
I keep thinking to myself that I need to slow things down, taking time to do things instead of rushing through them to get to the next thing. My impatience is my enemy. Part of slowing down might also mean minimizing the number of things I have and do. This likely won’t be easy for me.
While writing my morning pages the last couple of days, I’ve caught myself daydreaming as I gaze around the office looking for opportunities to cull my belongings. Just the idea of doing so gives me anxiety. Today, it occurred to me that that may be the exact reason I need to start the process of getting rid of things.
There are just so many things.
Recently, I decided that I would try to work my way through all of my pens. It’ll take me a good while to get through them, given how many of them there are. The pens seem like an easy first step into using what I have until they’re gone.
I have this photo printer that prints great photos. I rarely use it but the idea of selling it doesn’t sit well with me, so I keep taking it from place to place with the hope that I’ll run something off with it.
Thinking about it now, I have an attachment to my things. There’s sentimental value in them. I romanticize the object instead of the result of its function. Is it really the pen that matters or what I write with it? Is it the printer that’s of value or the pictures I printed with it?
This is a conflict I have to wrestle with.
I’m inching closer to getting a self-water planter with lights working. Tonight, I managed to get the wiring together, after buying wire cutters and a soldering “helping hand.” I also ordered PETG filament because I read that PLA isn’t head resistant enough for a lamp.
Over the last few days, I’ve been receiving several Amazon deliveries a day. It wasn’t intentional, but I’ve been buying things on Amazon so they’ve been getting delivered. The deliveries should’ve been more spread apart but delays and reorders lined up to create a steady flow of packages on our porch.
One of my goals for this year was to buy less, to use what I already have. It seems that I’m always trying something new, however, so I don’t usually have what I need. Part of the problem is that I’m reluctant to make a solution for a problem when I can buy one.
I could probably buy a self-water planter with LED lights instead of making one. In fact, I already have one. What I’m going after, more than anything, I think, is the challenge of it. Maybe the novelty is attractive, too.
We’re just over two weeks into the new year and I already feel like I need a break.
As we were leaving this morning, I looked for the package from Amazon that was marked as delivered but which I hadn’t received. I figured some porch pirates picked it up so I was a bit pissy during the drive to work. When I got to work, I placed another order for the same things, a drill bit and box of screws. I added in some woodworkers double-sided tape to help make myself feel better.
The woodworkers double-sided tape and drill bit were a same-day delivery, and the screws should be delivered tomorrow. Luckily, I got today’s delivery.
When I went to put my bag down in the office at home, I noticed a package on the floor, where I keep all of my deliveries, that looked like the package I was supposed to have received yesterday. It was the package that was supposed to be delivered yesterday.
I had no idea that I picked it up and put it in my office.
What I really should’ve ordered today was wire strippers. I’ll do that tomorrow morning.
The 3D printed parts for the plant lamp fit together really well. I impressed myself. So, I designed the seed starter cups and sent them to print. While the test was printing, I decided to give soldering a go.
My dad must’ve shown me how to solder at least a dozen times. He used to fix electronics. Me, I didn’t. I might have tried to solder some wires together three times before, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Today, really was, my first good go at it. At least, I kind of need to get it right to make these lamps.
I figured it couldn’t be too hard. I closed the door to my office, so the cats wouldn’t disturb me, cleared away some papers on the desk, set down a piece of wood, so as not to burn through my desk, and tried to solder wires to LED lights.
I had to call my dad to clarify whether it needed to be a series or parallel circuit. He told me that it needs to be parallel. I said the internet said it should be a series circuit. He told me to give it a go. I called him back to say he was right.
There was an issue with the design, preventing me from running the wires nicely. I did a quick redesign for the LED brackets, added some vent holes, and sent it off to print again. Hopefully, I’ve gotten a little bit closer to getting it right. We’ll find out tomorrow when I try my hand at it again.
On a different note, why did Amazon say they would deliver my order on Sunday by 10 pm, then by Friday, and then today it was marked as delivered but it wasn’t?
For whatever reason, I want to 3D print planters. I imagine the idea is an extension of an idea I had for a cross-curricular project for my class in which they’d research, design, and build a vertical garden. It should be an interesting project but it’s going to take a fair bit of work to plan and implement properly.
Since conjuring up the idea for my class back in November sometime, I’ve been wanting to design, print, and sell planters, especially self-watering ones, for myself. I started working out ideas during the winter break, setting a goal to have one good idea ready to go by the end of January. I think I’m getting close.
Today, I felt ready to print out the idea I’ve been working on. It’s not entirely ready – the cups for the plants aren’t designed – but I want to work with something material. I’m hoping that all the pieces will fit together.
One of the interesting challenges that I didn’t anticipate was designing the parts to optimize the printing. I also need to print it such that I can wire in the lights. One thing I forgot to include is a water level indicator.
I’m looking forward to seeing how this turns out and what challenges will present themselves next.
I am constantly amazed at what people are able to design and create when it comes to 3D printing.
Back in December, I got myself a Bambu A1 3D printer to upgrade from my Creality Ender 3 Neo, which was just giving me trouble. The Bambu A1 is a huge step up, impressing me in every way a 3D printer can. The quality of the output it produces is at a professional level.
One of the files it ships with is a print-in-place articulating panda. That toy is so much fun. I printed a pen holder to ship my pens in. Today, I printed a crayon-shaped crayon container. It’s incredible. The precision of the threads blows me away.
What impresses me most is that someone conjured up that idea and designed it. That is the brilliance of the human mind. I’ve been messing around with making a self-watering planter, something that I recently saw a three-year-old video on. I’m kind of getting it right. I’m not sure that I have a mind, or eye, for design, but boy do I want to figure it out.
It was an unusual Sunday only because I woke up rather early. At about 6:15, the cats had had enough of waiting and started whining for their breakfast. Hannah woke up to feed them. When she came back, I thanked her and fell asleep for maybe half an hour. Then, I found myself shopping for tools on Amazon for another hour while “watching” The New Yankee Workshop.
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I made a coffee grinder today.
This week felt like a month. It was a long one.
I’ve got to figure out a way to track my ideas for these posts. Throughout the day, something will happen that I think will make for a good reflection but I soon forget it or find myself too tired to write about it.
I’m too tired now to think much more about it, but I’ve got to figure something out soon.